In smaller markets as the family business owners retire it seems less likely that the business will stay in the family therefor they may close their doors. This is plus to the one man show tech. Keep your eyes on your decided upon service area as you may be able to benefit from the lost service and camp your services. Own an older in good shape van instead of leasing and use a gps, make your own repairs as needed to your vehicle to help save money. Never skimp on image with logo and wear a nice uniform. Trust in your quality of workmanship and hopefully with time in your rep will be great and you can make a good living after cost factors. $ 2000 a week you say lol

8 simple steps. No offence to his ideals. I have been at it 30 years, and I found out long ago there is only one. Treat your customer right, charge a reasonable rate, do what you say you will do, and last but not least, if they complain, tell them to pay you what they think your worth. We have all had our ups and downs, but in todays times, the customer can look things up, costs, etc, so being honest, and fair will keep you in business, and for a very long time to. Brent@CanBC

You can have a uniform, new vehicle, with nice signage, you can brush your teeth and comb your hair, and cover your shoes inside the home, but if your not honest, and fair with the customer, you will loose the calls easily. Brent@CanBC ps, being honest and fair, is the only thing you need to apply. Brent@CanBC

Maybe this post isn't in the right location, but here goes. My son uses a "tablet", he said he can handle a customer way faster with it, as he can look up the model, and access the manual codes etc, how to take it apart with out breaking the plastic etc, plus he can make out a bill with the costs of the parts etc, get paid up front, and the customer also can see what their costs will be, right there in the kitchen or laundry room. This way you don't order the part and then find out they bought new, or made a reverse on you. In todays times, yes we work on more complicated stuff, but in the end, go do the call, show them what it will cost, and in my sons case, all of them have went with him. He said the "tablet" and the fact they could see the part, the cost to them, the frt, the taxes, the labour, they so far have went with him, and in all of his calls, he has been paid up front fixing the appliance, or having to order, and return. Brent@CanBC

You can take your years of experience and add that tablet for the latest info on it and do pretty good I guess, but if you don't know anythang about how appliances work then a tablet ain't shit. What ya gone do what you gone do when the battery run low? bad boy bad boy. LOL

« Last Edit: December 18, 2012, 12:22:17 AM by JWWebster »

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May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.

About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

Math seems funny. $2000.00 for 52 weeks is ......... $104,000 and that could be true.150k? depends on if he means before or after expenses. I can relate to MSNBC story I even saw about 5% per year decrease for the last 10 years. I use to do 10 calls a day and REPAIR the machines and make money. Most parts were interchangeable then now not so much so and ordering more parts than before. About 55% repair and 45% condemn.

Yeah, you can make over $150k in this business but that's gross. Net profit will be around 1/2 of that or less after expenses. Was looking back on my old accounts. In 2009 and 2010, I grossed over $180k. I was tired and beat each and every day. I had no life but I made a ton of money. Now I'm slowing it down because the government is taking so much of it to give to the ungrateful and goodfernothin lowlifes. Going to gross over $130k this year but after all expenses which is a lot, I will probably net around $45k. My goal next year is to stay below $100k.

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Appliance Service TechnicianAuthorized servicer on LG appliances.About 45 mins east of San Francisco

I came across something on the internet (gov't source or something) that said experienced techs could earn 30-40k, and that owners could earn up to 60k.

That is not much, but liveable. If a Sears tech makes $16/hr, that'd be 32k before taxes, not counting overtime. I don't know how that compares to reality.

If you're an owner, you don't get hourly on a 40 hour workweek, but you get higher pay for your billed hours, plus service calls, parts mark-up, etc. But you have a whole lot more bills.

Somebody once complained that so-and-so charged $45 "just for knocking on my door!" I asked her to imagine a business who's service was simply to knock on doors and nothing else. What would you have to charge for that, to cover costs?

After liability insurance, auto costs (payment, gas, maintenance, insurance) advertising, medical, taxes, utilities, phone, license fees, etc., the cost to run that business would get pretty close to $45 per appointment!

We agreed that while nobody would actually pay to have you "just knock on their door," it is almost a bonus that they'd be willing to come in and tell you what is wrong with your appliance, at that price.